Axact moved more than Rs 8 billion in tax-free foreign currency from Dubai to Pakistan over the last four years, a report in the local media said on Saturday quoting a Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) probe.
The report comes as the FIA prepares to register cases of money laundering, tax evasion and illegal use of cyberspace against the IT company which is accused of handing out fake degrees.
According to the report, investigators scrutinising Axact’s financial records, including audit reports and balance sheets, said the company transferred foreign exchange worth Rs 1 billion to Pakistan in 2011. This amount, they said, was presented as income from the sale of software and IT-related services. The company moved the funds without paying any tax by taking advantage of government concessions aimed at promoting software export.
In 2012, Axact thrice moved the amount to Pakistan avoiding tax using the aforementioned concessions, the report said, quoting investigators . It added that the company continued this practice over subsequent years, and until 2014 it had moved as much as Rs 8 billion to Pakistan without paying any tax on the income. According to investigators, the money was transferred to Pakistan via Dubai through transactions involving a few hundred to thousands of dollars.
The report said that Axact is adamant that this foreign exchange was generated by the sale of software and IT services. But investigators said the company has failed to provide documentary evidence to back up the claim. If the income was generated from any means other than the sale of software and IT services, then Axact has committed money-laundering, they added.
According to the report, FIA officials are preparing to lodge three to four cases against Axact on charges of money-laundering, tax evasion and illegal use of cyberspace based on irregularities found in the company’s financial records. The agency’s IT and forensic experts have also collected important evidence from emails and computers, said the report.
Just to put this into perspective in dollars this is around 75 million dollars only ! how many of pakistan politicians move much more than that out of the country.
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